US cook's VOYAGE TO AUG. 



bore W. N. W., distant near three miles, which will 

 make its longitude 23 51'. The same watch, on my 

 late voyage, made the longitude to be 23 30' W. ; 

 and we observed the latitude to be 14 53' 30" N. 



The day after we left the Cape de Verde Islands, 

 we lost the N. E. trade-wind; but did not get that 

 which blows from the S. E. till the 30th, when we 

 were in the latitude of 2 N., and in the twenty-fifth 

 degree of W. longitude. 



During this interval*, the wind was mostly in the 

 S. W. quarter. Sometimes it blew fresh, and in 

 squalls; but for the most part a gentle breeze. The 

 calms were few, and of short duration. Between the 

 latitude of 12 and of 7 N., the weather was ge- 

 nerally dark and gloomy, with frequent rains, which 

 enabled us to save as much water as filled most of 

 our empty casks. 



These rains, and the close sultry weather accom- 

 panying them, too often bring on sickness in this 

 passage. Every bad consequence, at least, is to be 

 apprehended from them ; and commanders of ships 

 cannot be too much upon their guard, by purifying 

 the air between decks with fires and smoke, and by 

 obliging the people to dry their clothes at every op- 

 portunity. These precautions were constantly ob- 

 served on board the Resolutiont and Discovery; and 



* On the 18th, I sunk a bucket with a thermometer seventy 

 fathoms below the surface of the sea, where it remained two 

 minutes; and it took three minutes more to haul it up. The 

 mercury in the thermometer was at 66, which before, in the air, 

 stood at 78, and in the surface of the sea at 79. The water which 

 came up in the bucket contained, by Mr. Cavendish's table, V** i 

 part salt; and that at the surface of the sea T V' 4. As tms ^ ast 

 was taken up after a smart shower of rain, it might be lighter on 

 that account. Captain Cook's log-book. 



f The particulars are mentioned in his log-book. On the 14th 

 of August, a fire was made in the well, to air the ship below. On 

 the 15th, the spare-sails were aired upon deck, and a fire made to 

 air the sail-room. On the 17th, cleaned and smoked betwixt 

 decks, and the bread-room aired with fires. On the 21st, cleaned 

 and smoked betwixt decks ; and on the 22d, the men's bedding 

 was spread on deck to air. 



